Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Chronicles 18:8:
Kupsabiny: “Then Ahab sent for Micaiah to be called right away.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then the king of Israel summoning one of his officials, said, "Invite Micaiah son of Imlah to come here immediately"” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “So Ahab summoned one of his officials and said-to-(him), ‘[You (plur.)] bring Micaya the child of Imla here quickly.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “So the king of Israel told one of his officials to summon Micaiah immediately.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said: The common Hebrew conjunction rendered Then is probably a temporal connector here. However, it is also possible to take it as a logical one by saying “So” (Good News Translation, An American Translation, Moffatt). Good News Translation renders the king of Israel as “King Ahab” (compare the previous verse). The Hebrew noun rendered officer is translated by some versions as “eunuch” (Revised English Bible, An American Translation, La Bible Pléiade, Osty-Trinquet), that is, a castrated male. In a few places in the Old Testament, “eunuch” is clearly the correct rendering (2 Kgs 20.18; Isa 39.7; 56.3-4). However, in many Old Testament passages the purely physical description is secondary; the primary emphasis is on the high social status of the person. For various reasons eunuchs were entrusted with important tasks by rulers. There is some reason to think that the Hebrew noun was sometimes used to refer to a high official who was not actually castrated. Translations such as “court official” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible), “officer” (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), and “official” (New International Version) are preferable here to the rendering “eunuch” (see Péter-Contesse, “Was Potiphar a Eunuch?”).
Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah: Bring quickly is accurately expressed as “Bring … at once” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Dillard). Since Micaiah is identified in the previous verse as the son of Imlah, some English versions omit this second occurrence of the phrase for reasons of style (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version).
In those languages where direct quotations are used sparingly, Good News Translation provides a model for this verse in which the quotation is turned into indirect speech. Moffatt is similar with “So the king of Israel called an officer and told him to bring Micaiah the son of Imlah quickly.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.